


Camping in Oddwood

by OmniGawker



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Odd, Odd Family, odd food, one sane kid?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 18:16:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18255278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OmniGawker/pseuds/OmniGawker
Summary: So a boy sees some odd things from a place called Oddwood when he gets convinced by a friend to go along on a camping trip with her family. It's not just the woods that are odd.An import from FictionPress





	Camping in Oddwood

**Author's Note:**

> Got a little curious and remembered that I wrote a few things for yet another website called FictionPress so I decided to bring them over here.  
> Hope you enjoy

In the middle of a forest of tall redwoods lies an open red truck next to a make shift campground in the making there was a group of four.

There were two girls, one blonde and the other scarlet, who were busy carrying sleeping bags and cooking materials from the truck. Near the front of the truck, there was a man who looked and checked every fine part of the hunting rifle before him before he loaded it with its rounds and walked off into the forest. Finally there was a boy who couldn't help but eye the gun loading man nervously as he carried the frame parts for the tent.

The boy, named Janus, still couldn't get over the fact that he said yes to Rosie's invitation to the Durand family camping trip for the weekend and more so over the fact that his foster mother had let him go along. He simply wanted to spend the weekend with his comics but he might as well roll along with his decision. His half-thought out, impulsively made decision.

Well, at least he gets to hang out the girls, Rosie and Lilli, some more. They made for good company even if they had their scary dad hovering nearby. He could never forget the stare down that man gave him when he first came over to their home to say hi.

So, silver linings. At least the man left as soon as he loaded his gun.

"Hey Janny," Janus gave out a huh before a green fedora made for the outdoors, complete with a cape at the back, struck Janus' head with soft puft, "Do you mind bringing my dad his hat?"

Janus looked over the hat with a raised eyebrow before he looked at Lilli the blonde, "Why me?"

"Because I'm going to be busy sparking the wood and I gotta make sure Rosie doesn't try to bring a bear cub to the camp again."

"Ha-hang on, again?"

Lilli simply rolled her eyes and gave him a soft punch to the shoulder, "Just go Janny." and with that Lilli went back into the campground, calling out to her sister.

Janus could sigh in exasperation and walked into the forest only to stumble a bit with a choked whine when he heard Lilli call out to him.

"Oh and try not to get shot!" there was laughter followed by a smack, "Ow!" "Be nice!" "Jeez, I was just joking."

Janus glared back at the camp before he moved along into the forest, nervousness in his veins once more.

Fortunately it didn't take long for Janus to find the Durand patriarch due to his bright orange jacket but the boy stood back from the man as there seemed to be something off about him.

The man was standing there, his rifle slung over his right shoulder, talking to the empty air as he rubbed the sides of his head, "Da, cred cava fisic erit en paulo naside quin potius prefer sa-mi tin distanta shonen tano kyorio tamochimasu Mlock," he tensed, his hand reaching for the rifle, "Pendeat, cineva aliquis?"

Janus wasn't sure what to make of the words that came out of the man's mouth but decided to speak up then and there, "Um Mr. Durand I got your ha-"

Durand turned on a dime, leveled his rifle and took aim at Janus, his finger nearly squeezed the trigger.

Janus trembled with his hands up under the piercing copper eyed glare that drilled into him and the pointed rifle barrel aimed at between his eyes. He could see the bullet down the barrel.

There was a brief moment of silence before Durand sighed and lowered his rifle, "Damn it kid, I thought I told you to stay at the camp," he made to berate the boy some but paused when he saw what the boy was holding and nodded, "Is that my hat?"

Janus shakily held out Durand's hat as he stuttered, "Y-y-y-you forgot this at the camp."

Durand held the bridge of his nose before he took the hat from the boy's hand, "Thank you and I uh…apologize for the aim," Durand slowly patted the boy's shoulder, "An old habit that won't be leaving anytime soon. Again, sorry about that."

Janus fidgeted with the towering man's hand on his shoulder before looking up to him.

Perhaps having sensed the boy's discomfort, Durand simply stated, "Alright, I'll take you back to the camp," he gave the boy another pat on the back, "And I expect you to stay out of trouble with them for the rest of the trip okay?"

Timidly, Janus nodded in agreement and said nothing on the short walk back.

After Mr. Durand left Janus with the girls yet again, the boy was busy setting up the tent. At least the instruction manual for that was easy to follow.

But then Rosie called him over while waving an odd looking fruit in her hand, "Hey Janny look what I got here," she pressed it into Janus' slack hand, rather oblivious to his small wince, "I always forget the name of these but they're sooo good."

Janus gave the hairless and prickly fruit that was shaped familiarly before turning to Rosie with a raised brow"…Is this a kiwi without the fuzz," he looked at the fruit again, "and more spikes?"

Rosie opened her mouth to answer but then Lilli chimed in, "Those? Yeah but those are the best," the blonde then puckered her lips and made pop with them at the mere thought of the kiwi's taste, "go ahead, just bite into it."

"Just like that?"

"Yep, spikes and all Janny, now sink your teeth in it."

"…Really?"

The girls only nodded in kind although Rosie was rather enthusiastic about it.

Quite frankly, Janus was not convinced but not wanting to hear some more teasing from Lilli he hesitantly sank his teeth into the fruit, mindful to not let the spikes get in between his teeth. That would be rather uncomfortable.

The fruit's meat was soft and chewy compared to the rather tough, bumpy, and somewhat prickly skin but the juice of the fruit was what really struck Janus. Quite literally as the boy flinched from the flavor's punch its citrusy sweetness was tinged with a slight bitterness that caused the back of his throat and the whole of his tongue to dance to its tunes.

"Holy smokes," was all Janus could say albeit rather drowsily.

"Oh just wait until you try some raspberries that are actually blue," Rosie sucked in the air in satisfaction, "Nothing like that  _lie_  they sell on the candies."

Janus smiled at the thought of that, even if everything was beginning to warp and distort like a funhouse mirror reflection.

Then he blacked out and fell backwards onto the dirt.

A splitting headache was the first thing that Janus felt when he came to. Well, that and his tongue was itching for some more of those hairless spiky kiwis.

"Huh, I think I should get some more blue raspberries," Rosie's voice was heard though it sounded more warped and distorted, "You know, to even out the taste?"

A teasing giggle was heard, "Man, you must be such a light weight with a little fruit huh Janny?" Lilli laughed a lot more at that.

Janus' retort died within his mouth and replaced with a stuttering gasp when he looked up drowsily and saw that the girls had coppery fly eyes and their mouths were replaced by the dripping mandibles of spiders.

So Janus did what any sane person would do when surrounded by bug people that are very likely looking at him as something to eat; scream like a bat out of hell.

But the reality of the situation was that Janus was just seeing things, probably because of that kiwi. Shame he doesn't know that.

"Oh shoot!" Rosie dropped the basket of berries before she ran into the truck for supplies, "Time for that special jelly daddy taught us to make!"

"Yeah no kidding," Lilli was barely able to hold down the thrashing boy by his arms, "Now will you hurry up!" She received a black eye from one of his flailing arms for her momentary distraction, "He hits pretty hard!"

Rosie immediately made it back with a small pot, a bottle of water, a wooden masher, and a small bag of purple herbs, she went to work with the berries and "I am sosososososososososososo sorry about this Janny!" Rosie cried out as she mashed together the actual blue raspberries, herbs and water into a drinkable jelly.

"What are you three doing right now?"

The kids froze at the sound of his voice, even the tripping out Janus.

"He-hey daddy," Rosie giggled nervously as she hid the cup of medicine behind her back, "We were just playing."

"Ye-yeah we're just messing around," Lilli hugged Janus' head with a sheepish grin, "Ain't that right Janny?"

Janus screamed again in response.

The only thing that Mr. Durand did was to slowly face palm himself, "Damnit kids..." he sighed before he saw the tools in Rosie's hand, "Give me the pot, you're doing it wrong."

Then he fixed everything up and they all agreed to never speak of it again.

* * *

The rest of the weekend passed by and it became time to head on home.

"Are you sure your dad's going to be okay with uh that?"

Rosie nodded enthusiastically as she protectively held the caged viper to her chest, "Daddy always says that as long as I can take care of it, I can keep it." the viper was all coiled up and its head hidden beneath it.

Janus could only nod dumbly at that train of logic although he could've sworn that the viper gave him a smug smirk from underneath its coiled form.

"For about a few weeks before dad calls animal control," Lilli drawled out as she tapped away on her tablet, "You have no idea how many 'pets' she's had." she chuckled to herself as if she heard a joke.

Janus was about to inquire as to what she meant by that until Durand called out to them, "Alright kids, let's get going!"

So there they were, Janus at the back looking out the window a seat away from Rosie cooing over her new pet viper while it coiled itself in its cage. Lilli sat up front in the passenger seat pouring all of her attention into her tablet, no doubt looking up a web article that had nothing to do with the outdoors. Then there was Mr. Durand behind the wheel, his coppery gaze focused solely on the road ahead.

All the while, the truck gently rocked with every minor bump on the road as the trees zoomed past the window.

The boy wasn't sure where things between him and the Durands were going to go but he knew this for certain; he's never camping with this family again. Even if he was offered a steaming pie of those hairless kiwis, prickly trip outs included


End file.
